File:Picturesque Washington- pen and pencil sketches of its scenery, history, traditions, public and social life, with graphic descriptions of the Capitol and Congress, the White House, and the government (14586409220).jpg

Identifier: picturesquewas00moor (find matches)
Title: Picturesque Washington: pen and pencil sketches of its scenery, history, traditions, public and social life, with graphic descriptions of the Capitol and Congress, the White House, and the government departments ..
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Moore, Joseph West
Subjects: Washington (D.C.)
Publisher: Providence : J.A. & R.A. Reid
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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lover and atten-tive husband, as the farmer profitably engaged in crops, as the fox-hunter and fisherman in his hours of leisure, as the gay, liberal hostin a social community, his bruised arms hung up for monuments,as he thought, forever. But it was not so to be, for in 1775 the war for American Inde-pendence began, and Washington was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army. During the war he seldom visitedMount Vernon, but when it was over he resumed his life on the estate,and for five years the mansion was continually full of distinguishedguests, who came to pay homage to the patriot and soldier who hadachieved the liberty of his country. He became once more the activefarmer and the profuse Virginia host. In a letter written to Lafayettein 1784, Washington said: I am become a private citizen on thebanks of the Potomac, and under the shade of my own vine and fig-tree, free from the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public 19 A 290 PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON.1^
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life, I am solacing myselfwith those tranquil enjoymentsof which the soldier, who isever in pursuit of fame, the statesman,whose watchful days and sleepless nightsare spent in devising schemes to promote the welfare of his own, per-haps the ruin of other countries, can have very little conception. Ihave not only retired from all public employments, but I am retiringwithin myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and treadthe paths of private life, with a heartfelt satisfaction. Envious ofnone, I am determined to be pleased with all, and this, my dear friend,being the order of my march, I will move gently down the stream oflife until I sleep with my fathers. But again it was not so to be, for on the 14th of April, 1789, amessenger rode up to the door of the Mount Vernon mansion, bear-ing the official intelligence that Washington had been unanimouslyelected as the First President of the United States, and that he wasrequested by Congress to immediately assume the office. Two

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